A profile for the platform on which a given performance test is to be run must define the hardware and any relevant software details.
Here is a template to help ensure that a profile contains enough information:
| Parameter | Possible values | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Clustered? | Yes, No | If "Yes", provide complete configuration for clustered operation (or refer to a pre-existing example). Consider that several examples are available in the source code itself. |
| Platform type | Physical, Virtual | Is the platform a virtual or physical machine? If virtual, what virtualization technology is used (VMWare, VirtualBox, etc.)? |
| Processing hardware | The most important value here is probably number of cores (per node, if applicable). This is assumed not to vary amongst nodes in a cluster. | |
| Operating system | What OS is running on the platform (Mac, Windows, Unix, distribution, version, flavor, 32 or 64 bit, etc.)? | |
| Memory | This is the Java heap configuration, specified as the JVM flags to use. This is assumed not to vary among nodes in a cluster. | |
| Allocated storage | How much storage is allocated per node, or if shared, total storage available in a cluster | |
| Persistence I/O | Throughput | Is a certain level of throughput to disk an important part of the test? |
| Network I/O | This is particularly important for clustered operation. |